Making a 3D Snoopy Kennel Cake

Last week I made a 3D cake of Snoopy lying on top of his kennel and it is possibly my new favourite cake. It consisted of a kennel made entirely of cake, with a sugar modelled Snoopy a lying on top of the roof with a little sugar modelled Woodstock perched on his tummy. I had a very similar Snoopy money box as a child which I loved, so I jumped at the chance to re-create it in cake. It was a fair bit of work, but I loved the end result and it was a big hit!

To make the kennel, I baked a 10 inch square madeira cake. I tried creating the kennel at first with butter cake and it was a disaster, really horrible to carve. It seems madeira is a lot easier to work with if you are going to be carving to make a 3D cake. I halved and buttercreamed the cake, then took a sharp, long bladed knife and cut off bits to make a triangular roof shape. I did this quite precisely, measuring length and angles as I went to ensure a uniform and balanced roof. Here is the roof (you can see some of the bits of cake that were cut off in the background):

The roof of Snoopy's kennel carved out of cake

I took the remainder of the cake and did a little bit of measuring and carving to create as perfect a rectangular piece as I could for the kennel base. I spread buttercream over the top of the kennel base and stuck the roof on top of it like so:

The kennel cake assembled and ready to cover

Then it was just a matter of crumb coating and covering the base with white rolled fondant, colouring some fondant red and covering the roof, and using a knife and a ruler to cut some shallow lines along the fondant of the roof and kennel base. I then left this to dry.

While the kennel was drying, I moved on to creating the sugar models of Snoopy and Woodstock. I did each bit of them in separate parts – the head, nose, ears, torso, arms, legs, etc were all done as individual bits. I included little details such as indentations on Snoopy’s paws to show “toes” and “fingers”, and little feathers on Woodstock’s wings. Woodstock was quite hard to make as he was so small and very fiddly! After they had dried a little I used sugar glue to stick Snoopy together and secure him on top of the roof and did the same with little Woodstock. Here’s a close up of the assembled Snoopy and Woodstock:

Close up of sugar Snoopy and Woodstock

Next I took a tiny bit of fondant, coloured it black, rolled it out thinly and cut out an arched doorway which I sugar glued on one side of the kennel. I then coloured the remaining white fondant green and covered the cake board. While the fondant on the board was still wet, I took an icing tip to it to create grass texture.

And voila! Here is the finished product, a cake of Snoopy and Woodstock on top of Snoopy’s kennel:

Thanks Georgina! I actually covered the roof and kennel base separately and then sandwiched them back together. I have covered similar cakes before fully assembled, it’s not too tricky, you cut out individual pieces for each side and stick them on. But I have had problems with pieces falling off in the heat when that happens so decided to err on the side of caution and go for covering the kennel in one single piece of fondant and the roof in another piece.

Great great job! I can believe we both made a Snoopy Cake on the same weekend! I tried covering the cake with one big piece of fondant (before adding the roof) and the panels were just easier for me. This is great!! ^_^ Woodstock was such a pain, wasn’t he? I actually had to make him twice!

I covered the roof with a bit of excess around the edges which I tucked in under the bottom so the parts not sitting on the house were covered in fondant but the part touching the house weren’t if that makes sense?

I love this cake! I was asked to do a snoopy cake for a teacher of the year. I need it for Wed. afternoon. Will the fondant be dried by then if I start it this evening? Also, Do you have a good Madeira recipe you would care to share that people would enjoy? thank you for sharing your creativity.